Marvel: 2011-12-26 - Networking at the Gym
Jeanne has been rather upset with the television coverage of the hardships she's been facing at the Olympic Training Facility with the Gymnastics team. Not a lot of people bother to follow Olympic sports, and even less follow Gymnastics, but she's had a lot more people bothering her then usual and she knows what to blame. To distance herself from all that, she got permission from her coaches to train on her own for some time, and here she is. A random gym in NYC that caters to Gymnastics as well, and Jeanne is out there on the mat wearing a USA themed leotard, performing a series of breathtaking acrobatics and tumbling displays in succession. He has got to quit smoking. He was close there, for a while, but those magnificent, terrible, and yet somehow flavorful bastards called to him, and he could not resist. Slouched, sitting nearby an exercise machine, Wisdom had a towel around his neck and a bottle of water in his hand, and he was trying to catch his breath. He cleared his throat and paused a moment to admire the Olympic-level tumbling of this teenager nearby. But the coughing came again, and he winced, growling at the state of his lungs. A few twisting somersaults, changing direction at the final land into a backflip, leading to a cartwheel followed by a screwdriver, and Jeanne sticks a perfect landing, arms extended in the air as if she was performing for judges. She even manages a surface level smile, which surprisingly enough was the hardest thing for her to adjust to in competitive levels of Gymnastics. Rather than start on another routine, though, the girl catches sight of the man who appears out of breath and gathering her towel, starts pacing towards him, very sharp blue eyes focus intently on his visage. When she gets within earshot, she asks very blatantly, Mr. Wisdom? Formerly of Excalibur and Black Air?" Not that kind of question he might expect from an Olympic Gymnast, after all, isn't Gymnastics supposed to be the only thing in these girls' lives? "If you're here to kill me, I daresay you've got a shot, miss," Wisdom managed, still out of breath. But he cleared his throat, straightened his posture, and eyed the girl. "I suppose I should be less surprised when people recognize me nowadays," he mused. "Though... few people know about Black Air. Who are you?" he asked, with more than a little suspicion. He lifted a hand to his chest and blinked, realizing he didn't have his cigarettes at the moment. While some may not be sure whether Pete was joking or not, and may react awkwardly or show discomfort as a result, Jeanne seems rather peculiar in not only taking his comment at face value, but actually not appearing to be fazed at all as she proceeds to remark, "not likely, if I were an assassin after your life I would likely avoid face to face contact. A more efficent kill is executed when no danger is perceived by the target." Wiping sweat off her face and hanging the towel around her neck, Jeanne proceeds to introduce herself, "Jeanne Foucault, and that's okay, I know a lot. More than people expect me to. You probably have quite a few contacts from your line of work, don't you?" "I wholeheartedly agree, but far too often assassins develop a taste for dramatics. Find themselves a persona of death, come to shepherd the doomed, y'know?" His veneer went cold, calculating and more than a bit businesslike. "Lovely to meet you, Ms. Foucault. And I'm sure you do." He gave no answer to her question, however. A young woman who claims to know much, particularly something about his own dark past, isn't to be trusted. Jeanne considers what Pete says, takes about a second to process it, and then wrinkles her nose in distaste, "my esitmation is that such assassins with a flair for the dramatics will meet their doom at the first professionally trained target they encounter." Having another moment to consider, she looks even more displeased at the idea, "that is such a remarkably stupid approach. What is the point in shepherding the doomed? They will just die, and if the assassin would have any moral issues he is in the wrong profession." Something of a smirk appears faintly on Jeanne's lips as Pete neglects to answer her question, bringing her to cross her arms, "come on, I didn't ask you for secrets about your country, I'm not asking you to betray anyone..." she then just stops at that line of thought and switches to a more direct approach, "look, I bet you are not the sort to follow mindless gossip, but I'm having all kinds of problems with this Olympic Gymnastics thing, and I want to go into a more productive line of work. I've been thinking high tech, preferably with access to state of the art labs and computers...do you happen to know anyone that might hire me, despite my age?" Wisdom was still cold, looking at the girl as she continued on. He wanted to debate psychology with her, but now was really... really not the time. She's just too bloody creepy. "You're that little bird that graduated from MIT at fourteen, aren't you? Yep, I remember that name now. Well. I suppose I might know a name or two. As far as hiring goes, I'm quite afraid you're out of luck. An internship, however? Possibly paid? I'll see if I might be able to find a name or two. By the way, Ms. Foucault... use some inflection and facial movements when conversing. We aren't bloody mannequins." "Yes, I should have brought it up first, I guess it caught more headlines than the Gymnastics bit, though hanging around the Olympic Training Facility you'd think the world revolved around Gymnastics," from the exasperation on Jeanne's visage as she speaks those words, it's easy to imagine she's been involved in a few discussions that didn't end well about just that topic. "If you could just give me a name, that would be a great help, Mr. Wisdom." Jeanne tries to get anything she can, clearly of the mind she can and will make contact with the person so long as she has a name to go by. "Why would I be out of luck? I can be a tremendous asset to any employer, though I guess it's best left to discuss it with them. I appreciate your willingness to help me." She doesn't look amused at Pete's suggestion she use some inflection and facial expressions while talking, then again, she has kept pretty much for one singularly blank expression since approaching Pete. Even knowing whatever it is she knows about him, she was quite cool about simply walking up to him to strike a conversation. "I don't really have any emotional tone I want to convey, so, I'm not quite sure what facial movement would be proper...a smile? A nod? Moving my hands aimlessly like some professors like to do, as if they couldn't get their point across otherwise?" "Well, its either that, or send me an audio recording, Ms. Foucault," Wisdom joked with a light little grin. "I can't give you a name so easily. I'll have to talk to my contacts. Find the right person. See if they're interested in the first place, let alone the prospect of having them meet you. Things like this don't happen so quickly, after all." He nodded, and ran his fingers through his hair in thought. "And you're out of luck in that you're underage, and that whoever I might talk to will be bound by legalities in hiring a minor. I'm sure you might be able to work for... whoever I speak with, but it will only benefit you very little, Ms. Foucault." Jeanne looks blankly at Pete as he jokes with her, and it seems only on delayed reaction she parses that grin as in showing he wasn't entirely serious, to which she responds with a muted, "ha, funny." But she is not at all pleased when Pete explains how such things like she's requesting take time, and how the legal system is somehow skewed against her. "Argh, laws, stupid laws made by stupid men. I have so much to offer but I can't be hired because I'm a minor? Feh." And there it is, finally she smiles, it is more of a disturbing smile than a flowery cheerleadery smile, but it's there, "oh, I think it'll benefit me just fine. You have no idea what environment I have to contend with at the Olympic Training Facility, these girls can't stomach me being better than all of them combined." Hey, a clue perhaps towards why she's having a hard time, she's got a lovable attitude. "Bollocks, bimbos and bastards, all of 'em," Wisdom quipped. "I don't normally like... erm, people. One at a time, I can contend with a person particularly well. But even I get my pride hurt sometimes. I'm not saying I'm not a bastard, after all. However, miss, the law's the law. And this will take time. And I cannot promise you whatever work you seek, but I CAN tell you with all certainty that I will try. Graduating at MIT at 14? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant." Jeanne who is not accustomed to people of Wisdom's mannerism, does chuckle a bit at his reaction, "yes, something in that respect. And hey, at least we have one thing in common, I don't generally do too well with people. They tend to not like me for being better." This could have been a lot worse if she was oozing with ego, but the way she speaks the word, it's like she was asserting a scientific fact, bland and without a trace of basking in it. "I never suggested I would willfully disobey the law, I just think it's stupid." Even when Pete essentially compliments her for her stark achievement, Jeanne still seems unaffected, "so I've been told before. But it was easy for me, so it's probably not as impressive as people make it out, particularly the media, they like to exagerate." "That they do, but such universities have churned out many a history-making individual. And as such is the nature of mortals, we like to make our mark so that we'll be remembered after we're pushing up daisies," Wisdom said with a sigh. "And I don't generally deal too well with people, either. But as said, I don't like 'em. So. Perfect, eh? Almost in every way?" "Yes, except I don't have such a motive. I don't fear death, it is a natural phenomenon, and it will happen when it's my time to expire." Jeanne speaks matter of factly about death, "I'd much rather make note of things I could be proud of and just finishing school isn't one of them." Of course most people wouldn't consider MIT as just a 'school' nor graduating from it at 14 years old as something that's to be expected. "I like you, Mr. Wisdom, it seems like you have a solid connection with reality. It's a shame you're much older than me." "Goodness, you're rather sociopathic, aren't you?" he observed with a bit of a tone. At the mention of him being older, he flustered and blinked. "What do you mean?" he asked, quite legitimately confused. "With age comes wisdom, as they say. And good god, what a horrid pun." "I've heard some people say that about me, certainly not to my face, but it's hard to hide things from me," Jeanne says even that in a non-challant manner, noting how Pete seems flustered by her remark, she looks at a loss, and then tries to make ammends with not the best of efforts, "I didn't mean to offend you, so I'm sorry if you took my saying you're older as a bad thing, it's just that...well, you are older, it's hard to dispute." Yeah, nice recovery there Jeanne Foucault. But hey, Pete actually gets a human reaction out of Jeanne, as she does laugh at his horrid pun. "I'm not offended, but I'm not sure what you meant by saying it was a shame," Wisdom said. "It was just... flustering." He smiled, however, as she gave a laugh. From afar, Power Girl hugs tight "Well, it's hard to find boys around my age I can relate to in any way, shape or form. So, it's unfortunate you're older than me, because I like you. I don't like a lot of people," Jeanne says that without even blinking, and then she rushes over to her duffel bag and comes rushing right back, extending a piece of paper to Pete, "my phone number and email in case you manage to get in touch with someone who might be willing to at least give me an interview." And just like that, no further delays, she points at the mat, "I need to get back to work on the routine, Olympics is serious stuff," she winks and then cartwheels her way back to the mat. He's dumbfounded. Told by an attractive young... underage girl, that he's liked. And that she can't find any boys her age that she can relate to? This is where Wisdom forces a smile and clams up. "I'll get to it, then," he said, and he rose.